Home > Hatfield rail crash
A Great North Eastern Railways train bound for Leeds derailed south of Hatfield station on 17 October 2000, killing four people and injuring another thirty-five. Following the crash, temporary speed restrictions were put on many of Britain's railways while checks were carried out for cracked rails like that thought to have caused the accident. In 2003 six people and two companies - Network Rail (as successors of Railtrack) and the division of Balfour Beatty that maintained the track - were charged with manslaughter in connection with the accident. Charges against Network Rail/Railtrack and some of its executives were dropped in September 2004, but the other charges still stand. The trial is expected to take place in early 2005.It was found that "gauge corner cracking" - the cause of the rail failure at Hatfield was alarmingly common throughout the country's railway lines. Railtrack instigated a nationwide (and costly) track replacement programme in the aftermath of the disaster. It also set in motion the series of events which resulted in the ultimate collapse of the company, and its partial renationalisation in the form of the new Government-owned network operator Network Rail.
In May 2002, a similar fatal accident occurred only a few miles further south along the same stretch of line.
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